The vanagon.com Short Story Contest!

The vanagon.com short story contest is now over. A list of winners is on display in the 'Fun' section of this web site.

'Prizes

Winners will be contacted in order to select the prize that they wish to receive from the following list of prizes. Prizes with the check-mark graphic to the left have already been claimed. The author of the highest-scored story will be able to select their prize first, followed by the second-highest score, until all prizes have been awarded.

	$175 gift certificate for an exhaust sytem or parts from S&S Headers, awarded to Grand Prize winner Joe Clark for his story Maintenance.
	2 nights Westfalia rental from either San Francisco or Los Angeles, courtesy of California Campers, awarded to First Prize winner Bob Aldrich for his story Crossroads. ($160 value. Includes 200 free miles.)
	Paulchen Rack courtesy of vanagon.com. (Note that this is only the base rack with no accessories.) ($250 value.) Awarded to Second prize winner Sharon Goodwin for her story Monty.
	2 nights Westfalia rental from Albuquerque, New Mexico, courtesy of Roamin' Holiday. ($152 value. Includes 200 free miles.) Awarded to Third prize winner Ken Wilford for his story The Fifth Van.
	$75 gift certificate from The Bus Depot, awarded to runner-up winner Emily Jo Hanlon for her story I'm Not from Around Here.
	1 years membership in LiMBO (the Late Model Bus Organization International.) This prize was selected by runner-up Ken Wilford for his story Maggie. ($20-25 value.)
	2 nights 1997 Eurovan Camper rental from Vancouver, British Columbia, courtesy of Westminster Volkswagen Camper Rental Ltd. Runner-up Chris Wyatt selected this prize for his excellent travel tale Syncro Gulkana Ice-Breaking. (Cdn$250 value. Includes 300 free kilometers.)
	Revell Volkswagen Van Camper model, unassembled, as shown on the vanagon.com toys page. Selected by Hans Eisenbeis, who won for his school days story Coolant. ($11 value.)
	A Stove Top Water Heating Coil from Zodi Outback Gear. (Converts your Westie water faucet to a hot water system!) Awarded to Björn Ratjen for his cautionary tale Dogs and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance. ($25 value.)
	Collection of 5 Rocco Vanagon 'MiniTank' toys. These are 1/43 scale military vehicles including an ambulance, syncro, & double-cab. Selected by Charlie Ford, who won with his excellent life's tale The Gift of a Dream ($40 value.)
	Baseball hat embroidered with the 'squeezed' VW logo and the slogan "Drivers Beware" from The Old Volks Home. Selected by Dyer Lytle, who won for San Juan Barndoor, a meditation on how busses should be treated. ($14 value)
	Baseball hat embroidered with the 'squeezed' VW logo and the slogan "Drivers Beware" from The Old Volks Home. Selected by Larry Carter, who won for his chilling tale A Winter Trip. ($14 value)
	$100 gift certificate from Madras Motors, good for parts or labor.
	1 set of 'Westfalia' pop-top stickers (either original-style or 'funky' from Barnstormer products. ($25 value each set.) (2 prizes)
	$25 gift certificate from EuroParts.

'Rules

1. Entries must be 2,000 words or less, and must be original works of fiction or non-fiction.
2. Entries must feature a Volkswagen Transporter (bus, Vanagon, EuroVan, Camper, etc.) in an important role within the story.
3. You may enter up to 5 stories, but only the top-scored story will be eligible to win.
4. Entries via email must be received by January 31^st, 1998.
5. The contest is open to anyone except the management of vanagon.com (i.e., Ron 'Coyote' Lussier.)
6. Stories written in English are preferred. (No translation facilities are available, and if a judge can't read your story, it probably won't get a great score.)
7. Stories may be submitted electronically in plain text, HTML, or Microsoft Word '97 formats.
8. Entries will not be returned. Winners will be notified by March 31, 1998 and published on the vanagon.com web site.
9. The winners list will be published on the vanagon.com web site in the Spring of 1998.
10. Submission of a story grants unlimited non-exclusive publication rights to vanagon.com.
11. Winners are responsible for all taxes and duties on winnings.
12. Winners agree to meet with Ron Lussier upon request for a prize award photo. (This will be displayed on the contest web pages with your story. Ron Lussier will assume any travel necessary.)
13. Winners outside of North America agree to pay postage necessary to deliver the selected prize.

    Special rules for postal entries:

14. Postal entries must be postmarked by January 24^th, 1998.
15. Postal entries must be typed, double-spaced, on standard sized white paper (8½x11 or A4.)
16. The entrant's full name, address, and the title of the story must appear on a separate cover page. The author's name should not appear anywhere else on the manuscript.

'Judging

The entries were assessed by a panel of 6 judges. All entries were submitted to the judges 'blind', without the author's name. If you are curious, you can check out the list of judges.

Each judge was asked to rate each story with a score of 0.0 to 10.0. The story's score was then be the average of the scores given by each judge. (Scores will not be published on the web site. Entrants can request their scores on an individual basis.)

Judges were allowed to submit stories, but were not allowed to judge their own stories (of course.) As described above, judge's stories were submitted to other judges anonymously.

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